Here's a blog from a couple circumnavigating in style and comfort in a Hunter 49. They rounded Cape Horn last winter. They've had their share of the usual equipment problems, but, again, it's not the fault of the boat.

I think they said his problem was related to some kind of tear on the esophagus? Don't know if the tear came after the fact or what. One thing I wonder tho, is what the hell do you do if you're single-handing something and get sick? I guess you're kinda screwed.

I think they said his problem was related to some kind of tear on the esophagus? Don't know if the tear came after the fact or what. One thing I wonder tho, is what the hell do you do if you're single-handing something and get sick? I guess you're kinda screwed.

I'm in the market for a bluewater. Used to have a cal 25 for years and sailed around in Galveston bay until I moved inland and sold it. I've been reading forums like this for awhile doing research to see what my next boat should be and have seen the question of "what bluewater boat to get," and "what makes a boat bluewater" etc.

I take some much from a story like this, from "make everything heavy duty as possible," to "have backup parts for items you can't move without," to "double check that everything works!" to "do drills with gear to make sure it works in a pinch" and the list goes on.

By the way, because of forums like these, I think I've narrowed it down to one of the heavier boats like an Alberg based on my budget. Thanks to all those here for the wealth of info.

I've said it before, I'll say it again... IMHO, the single best resource for addressing these criteria is John Rousmaniere's DESIRABLE AND UNDESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF OFFSHORE YACHTS...

Don't take too seriously the comments of those who may opine that there is no such thing as a bluewater boat, or that most any plastic fantastic can be "modified" or "beefed up" for bluewater sailing...

Some boats and designs simply ARE far more suitable than others or most for such sailing, it's completely beyond me why some try so hard to deny this...

It doesn't matter to me...the water in my lake is brown....so my Catalina 25 doesn't need to be bluewater capable...there isn't any blue water in Eagle Mountain Lake....sometimes it's green...by the end of summer...but usually it's brown.

I owned a Hunter 27 and took it to the Bahamas twice. The list of problems is too long to get into here. The main problem was a rubber coupling between the propeller shaft and the engine. The rubber was just glued to two pieces of metal on either side. The lag bolted engine mount - that's right lag bolted into the fiberglass not through bolted with backing plates and nuts - came loose, the engine was out of line with the shaft and the coupling broke. This was many years ago and Hunter has since corrected this, but it is symptomatic of the way the boat was put together. Many things happened on those trips: the head failed, the radio stopped working, problems with the manual water pump and so on.

Then in the 90's I did a Hunter delivery of a 40 footer. We got into a storm just outside Beaufort heading north from Florida. The engine stopped in the rough seas (we were headed in to Beaufort and the wind was right on the nose). That was the end of the engine and it wasn't algae in the filters. We checked. Water was coming over the bow and soaked the cockpit. Water got into the installed instruments and took them out along with most of the onboard electronics. Water penetrated down below even though the hatches were secured. Other things happened to the interior, but I don't want to get into it in an open forum.

I had another Hunter delivery after that one but I turned it down.

I consider Hunter and Catalina in the same class of boats. I delivered a couple of Catalina's with no problems, but the conditions were near perfect. Still, perhaps it was wrong to criticize Catalina the way I did with no personal knowledge of critical failures. So, I take back what I said about Catalinas and defer to what Chuck53 said, "hey I've got a Catalina and I totally agree."

Tony - I took a Hunter 45cc off the west coast of Vancouver Island. When I posted the problems I had on CF I was lambasted. I would take a Hunter offshore AFTER some extensive modifications. I have sailed other Hunters in the protected waters of the Gulf Islands with no problems.

I happen to think the ISAF offshore race rules are good place to check if a vessel is ready for offshore. You may trust your vinyl coated lifelines, but some of the other guidelines are essential.

Hunter did have a lot of problems in their boats made between about 1985-1999. At which point they got a new designer who changes the entire build culture, and made the boats much better.

Again I am not saying I think Hunters are the best built boats in the world, but I know new boats from even the traditional bluewater yards that have come screwed up. Like a S/S Swan with no washers on the winch bolts... or a Hinkley where someone forgot to fully tighten a keel bolt.

My Catalina 34 MkII, built in 2000 has all Lewmar Ocean Series hatches. She also is equiped with a M35B diesel from Universal/Westerbeke (Kubota block) with a Racor primary filter. I have Lewmar 48’s as primaries and Lewmar 30’s on the coach roof and also as secondary’s. My navigation suite is Raymarine and steering is Edson.

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